The following discussion of the background of the invention is merely provided to aid the reader in understanding the invention and is not admitted to describe or constitute prior art to the present invention.
The kidney is responsible for water and solute excretion from the body. Its functions include maintenance of acid-base balance, regulation of electrolyte concentrations, control of blood volume, and regulation of blood pressure. As such, loss of kidney function through injury and/or disease results in substantial morbidity and mortality. A detailed discussion of renal injuries is provided in Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine, 17th Ed., McGraw Hill, New York, pages 1741-1830, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. Renal disease and/or injury may be acute or chronic. Acute and chronic kidney disease are described as follows (from Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment 2008, 47th Ed, McGraw Hill, New York, pages 785-815, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety): “Acute renal failure is worsening of renal function over hours to days, resulting in the retention of nitrogenous wastes (such as urea nitrogen) and creatinine in the blood. Retention of these substances is called azotemia. Chronic renal failure (chronic kidney disease) results from an abnormal loss of renal function over months to years”.
Acute renal failure (ARF, also known as acute kidney injury, or AKI) is an abrupt (typically detected within about 48 hours to 1 week) reduction in glomerular filtration. This loss of filtration capacity results in retention of nitrogenous (urea and creatinine) and non-nitrogenous waste products that are normally excreted by the kidney, a reduction in urine output, or both. It is reported that ARF complicates about 5% of hospital admissions, 4-15% of cardiopulmonary bypass surgeries, and up to 30% of intensive care admissions. ARF may be categorized as prerenal, intrinsic renal, or postrenal in causation. Intrinsic renal disease can be further divided into glomerular, tubular, interstitial, and vascular abnormalities. Major causes of ARF are described in the following table, which is adapted from the Merck Manual, 17th ed., Chapter 222, and which is hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety:
TypeRisk FactorsPrerenalECF volume depletionExcessive diuresis, hemorrhage, GI losses, loss ofintravascular fluid into the extravascular space (due toascites, peritonitis, pancreatitis, or burns), loss of skinand mucus membranes, renal salt- and water-wastingstatesLow cardiac outputCardiomyopathy, MI, cardiac tamponade, pulmonaryembolism, pulmonary hypertension, positive-pressuremechanical ventilationLow systemic vascularSeptic shock, liver failure, antihypertensive drugsresistanceIncreased renal vascularNSAIDs, cyclosporines, tacrolimus, hypercalcemia,resistanceanaphylaxis, anesthetics, renal artery obstruction, renalvein thrombosis, sepsis, hepatorenal syndromeDecreased efferentACE inhibitors or angiotensin II receptor blockersarteriolar tone (leading todecreased GFR fromreduced glomerulartranscapillary pressure,especially in patients withbilateral renal arterystenosis)Intrinsic RenalAcute tubular injuryIschemia (prolonged or severe prerenal state): surgery,hemorrhage, arterial or venous obstruction; Toxins:NSAIDs, cyclosporines, tacrolimus, aminoglycosides,foscarnet, ethylene glycol, hemoglobin, myoglobin,ifosfamide, heavy metals, methotrexate, radiopaquecontrast agents, streptozotocinAcute glomerulonephritisANCA-associated: Crescentic glomerulonephritis,polyarteritis nodosa, Wegener's granulomatosis; Anti-GBM glomerulonephritis: Goodpasture's syndrome;Immune-complex: Lupus glomerulonephritis,postinfectious glomerulonephritis, cryoglobulinemicglomerulonephritisAcute tubulointerstitialDrug reaction (eg, β-lactams, NSAIDs, sulfonamides,nephritisciprofloxacin, thiazide diuretics, furosemide, phenytoin,allopurinol, pyelonephritis, papillary necrosisAcute vascularVasculitis, malignant hypertension, thromboticnephropathymicroangiopathies, scleroderma, atheroembolismInfiltrative diseasesLymphoma, sarcoidosis, leukemiaPostrenalTubular precipitationUric acid (tumor lysis), sulfonamides, triamterene,acyclovir, indinavir, methotrexate, ethylene glycolingestion, myeloma protein, myoglobinUreteral obstructionIntrinsic: Calculi, clots, sloughed renal tissue, fungusball, edema, malignancy, congenital defects; Extrinsic:Malignancy, retroperitoneal fibrosis, ureteral traumaduring surgery or high impact injuryBladder obstructionMechanical: Benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostatecancer, bladder cancer, urethral strictures, phimosis,paraphimosis, urethral valves, obstructed indwellingurinary catheter; Neurogenic: Anticholinergic drugs,upper or lower motor neuron lesion
In the case of ischemic ARF, the course of the disease may be divided into four phases. During an initiation phase, which lasts hours to days, reduced perfusion of the kidney is evolving into injury. Glomerular ultrafiltration reduces, the flow of filtrate is reduced due to debris within the tubules, and back leakage of filtrate through injured epithelium occurs. Renal injury can be mediated during this phase by reperfusion of the kidney. Initiation is followed by an extension phase which is characterized by continued ischemic injury and inflammation and may involve endothelial damage and vascular congestion. During the maintenance phase, lasting from 1 to 2 weeks, renal cell injury occurs, and glomerular filtration and urine output reaches a minimum. A recovery phase can follow in which the renal epithelium is repaired and GFR gradually recovers. Despite this, the survival rate of subjects with ARF may be as low as about 60%.
Acute kidney injury caused by radiocontrast agents (also called contrast media) and other nephrotoxins such as cyclosporine, antibiotics including aminoglycosides and anticancer drugs such as cisplatin manifests over a period of days to about a week. Contrast induced nephropathy (CIN, which is AKI caused by radiocontrast agents) is thought to be caused by intrarenal vasoconstriction (leading to ischemic injury) and from the generation of reactive oxygen species that are directly toxic to renal tubular epithelial cells. CIN classically presents as an acute (onset within 24-48 h) but reversible (peak 3-5 days, resolution within 1 week) rise in blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine.
A commonly reported criteria for defining and detecting AKI is an abrupt (typically within about 2-7 days or within a period of hospitalization) elevation of serum creatinine. Although the use of serum creatinine elevation to define and detect AKI is well established, the magnitude of the serum creatinine elevation and the time over which it is measured to define AKI varies considerably among publications. Traditionally, relatively large increases in serum creatinine such as 100%, 200%, an increase of at least 100% to a value over 2 mg/dL and other definitions were used to define AKI. However, the recent trend has been towards using smaller serum creatinine rises to define AKI. The relationship between serum creatinine rise, AKI and the associated health risks are reviewed in Praught and Shlipak, Curr Opin Nephrol Hypertens 14:265-270, 2005 and Chertow et al, J Am Soc Nephrol 16: 3365-3370, 2005, which, with the references listed therein, are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. As described in these publications, acute worsening renal function (AKI) and increased risk of death and other detrimental outcomes are now known to be associated with very small increases in serum creatinine. These increases may be determined as a relative (percent) value or a nominal value. Relative increases in serum creatinine as small as 20% from the pre-injury value have been reported to indicate acutely worsening renal function (AKI) and increased health risk, but the more commonly reported value to define AKI and increased health risk is a relative increase of at least 25%. Nominal increases as small as 0.3 mg/dL, 0.2 mg/dL or even 0.1 mg/dL have been reported to indicate worsening renal function and increased risk of death. Various time periods for the serum creatinine to rise to these threshold values have been used to define AKI, for example, ranging from 2 days, 3 days, 7 days, or a variable period defined as the time the patient is in the hospital or intensive care unit. These studies indicate there is not a particular threshold serum creatinine rise (or time period for the rise) for worsening renal function or AKI, but rather a continuous increase in risk with increasing magnitude of serum creatinine rise.
One study (Lassnigg et all, J Am Soc Nephrol 15:1597-1605, 2004, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety) investigated both increases and decreases in serum creatinine. Patients with a mild fall in serum creatinine of −0.1 to −0.3 mg/dL following heart surgery had the lowest mortality rate. Patients with a larger fall in serum creatinine (more than or equal to −0.4 mg/dL) or any increase in serum creatinine had a larger mortality rate. These findings caused the authors to conclude that even very subtle changes in renal function (as detected by small creatinine changes within 48 hours of surgery) seriously effect patient's outcomes. In an effort to reach consensus on a unified classification system for using serum creatinine to define AKI in clinical trials and in clinical practice, Bellomo et al., Crit. Care. 8(4):R204-12, 2004, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, proposes the following classifications for stratifying AKI patients:    “Risk”: serum creatinine increased 1.5 fold from baseline OR urine production of <0.5 ml/kg body weight/hr for 6 hours;    “Injury”: serum creatinine increased 2.0 fold from baseline OR urine production <0.5 ml/kg/hr for 12 h;    “Failure”: serum creatinine increased 3.0 fold from baseline OR creatinine >355 μmol/l (with a rise of >44) or urine output below 0.3 ml/kg/hr for 24 h or anuria for at least 12 hours;And included two clinical outcomes:    “Loss”: persistent need for renal replacement therapy for more than four weeks.    “ESRD”: end stage renal disease—the need for dialysis for more than 3 months.
These criteria are called the RIFLE criteria, which provide a useful clinical tool to classify renal status. As discussed in Kellum, Crit. Care Med. 36: S141-45, 2008 and Ricci et al., Kidney Int. 73, 538-546, 2008, each hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, the RIFLE criteria provide a uniform definition of AKI which has been validated in numerous studies.
More recently, Mehta et al., Crit. Care 11:R31 (doi:10.1186.cc5713), 2007, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, proposes the following similar classifications for stratifying AKI patients, which have been modified from RIFLE:    “Stage I”: increase in serum creatinine of more than or equal to 0.3 mg/dL (≥26.4 μmol/L) or increase to more than or equal to 150% (1.5-fold) from baseline OR urine output less than 0.5 mL/kg per hour for more than 6 hours;    “Stage II”: increase in serum creatinine to more than 200% (>2-fold) from baseline OR urine output less than 0.5 mL/kg per hour for more than 12 hours;    “Stage III”: increase in serum creatinine to more than 300% (>3-fold) from baseline OR serum creatinine ≥354 μmol/L accompanied by an acute increase of at least 44 μmol/L OR urine output less than 0.3 mL/kg per hour for 24 hours or anuria for 12 hours.
The CIN Consensus Working Panel (McCollough et al, Rev Cardiovasc Med. 2006; 7(4): 177-197, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety) uses a serum creatinine rise of 25% to define Contrast induced nephropathy (which is a type of AKI). Although various groups propose slightly different criteria for using serum creatinine to detect AKI, the consensus is that small changes in serum creatinine, such as 0.3 mg/dL or 25%, are sufficient to detect AKI (worsening renal function) and that the magnitude of the serum creatinine change is an indicator of the severity of the AKI and mortality risk.
Although serial measurement of serum creatinine over a period of days is an accepted method of detecting and diagnosing AKI and is considered one of the most important tools to evaluate AKI patients, serum creatinine is generally regarded to have several limitations in the diagnosis, assessment and monitoring of AKI patients. The time period for serum creatinine to rise to values (e.g., a 0.3 mg/dL or 25% rise) considered diagnostic for AKI can be 48 hours or longer depending on the definition used. Since cellular injury in AKI can occur over a period of hours, serum creatinine elevations detected at 48 hours or longer can be a late indicator of injury, and relying on serum creatinine can thus delay diagnosis of AKI. Furthermore, serum creatinine is not a good indicator of the exact kidney status and treatment needs during the most acute phases of AKI when kidney function is changing rapidly. Some patients with AKI will recover fully, some will need dialysis (either short term or long term) and some will have other detrimental outcomes including death, major adverse cardiac events and chronic kidney disease. Because serum creatinine is a marker of filtration rate, it does not differentiate between the causes of AKI (pre-renal, intrinsic renal, post-renal obstruction, atheroembolic, etc) or the category or location of injury in intrinsic renal disease (for example, tubular, glomerular or interstitial in origin). Urine output is similarly limited, Knowing these things can be of vital importance in managing and treating patients with AKI.
These limitations underscore the need for better methods to detect and assess AKI, particularly in the early and subclinical stages, but also in later stages when recovery and repair of the kidney can occur. Furthermore, there is a need to better identify patients who are at risk of having an AKI.